Birthdays
by Broken Twisted Lullabies
Summary: To the Winchesters, birthdays weren't all that big and important [Unnatural Writer's Prompt - birthday]


**Apologies for this going up so late. I meant to post something on saturday and it's now sunday so uh, oops. I'm working on a part 3 to the previous two fics I just posted (Say No to This and I'm Burning the Memories) so hopefully if I'm lucky, they'll be up later today as well! Schools getting a bit hectic along with work, but I'll try to stick with posting every weekend.**

 **Any who, for this week's prompt, it was Birthday, and I decided to do it on our two favourite winchesters and the lack of birthdays they had in their life. Enjoy.**

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Growing up much like they did, birthdays hardly meant much. They were just like any other day, ordinary except for the fact it was that one day you added a year to your age. It was the day you were just a little more older than last year. Other than that, birthdays were never something special to the Winchester boys.

Dean had four parties for his birthday, back when they still lived in their quiet little house. His father would get balloons and blow them up to have in the living room while his mother would busy herself in the kitchen, baking his birthday cake - which during that time he was forbidden from entering and especially for tasting anything before the cake was finished. Dean would then wait, impatiently swinging his legs back and forth as he waited on the couch in the living room for the doorbell to ring to sound that his friends had arrived for the party.

His father, when the doorbell would ring, would follow him to the door, allowing for Dean to open it (just this time, of course, as it was not safe his parents told him, to be opening the door on his own)and welcome his friends in. The table would then be filled with wrapped gifts and bags filled with brightly coloured tissue paper, all calling out to Dean to take a peek to see what lay inside. But never did he, not until after they had cake.

Him and his friends would play games, like _Monopoly_ or _Pin the Tail on the Donkey_ , or other fun games for the time being before eventually having pizza and snacks. Then would come more games. Then, after the games, would be cake time, in which Dean would sit at the small dining room table, and his mother would place his cake in front of him, candles lit on top showing his age (and one more for good luck!). All of his friends would sing Happy Birthday along with his parents and once it was done, Dean would blow out the candles, making a wish. It was then that the cake was cut and served to everyone, and later presents were opened.

Dean experienced four birthdays before the fire, before his mother's death and them having to leave, spending the rest of their days in the Impala or in dingy motels. After that, Dean hardly had birthdays, focusing more on more important things like fighting monsters and protecting Sammy.

Sammy. He had never had a real birthday, not like Dean had had. There were no balloons or cake or presents. He had only been six months when the fire happened in his nursery, six months away from celebrating his big first birthday. But when May 2nd came around and Sam turned one, Dean still did his best to give him a birthday similar to those he used to have. He saved up some loose coins to buy a cupcake from the dinner and stick a candle in it with the help of his father, and the two gave the youngest Winchester some semblance of a party. Though it wasn't anything grand like Dean had had.

As time passed though, birthdays happened less and less, though Dean still tried his hardest to give his little brother parties. On Sam's sixth birthday, they had a small picnic in the park with two of Sam's friends, playing on the playground and having a small cake. Still nothing too big, but in terms of birthday parties for Sam, this was the biggest and most extravagant. For Sam's tenth birthday, they went to an arcade, just the two of them (as they had just recently moved and Sam hadn't had enough time to really make many good friends), Dean offering up all the loose coins and bills he had managed to get from helping their neighbour back in Minnesota with small chores.

Every birthday Sam had until the age of 16 Dean did something for, always managing to scrape together enough for a present and small cake,which was neither grand or fancy and pricy, but was enough for Sam. After all, with the life they lived, this was more than enough. And, in return, when Sam was old enough, he too started using his saved money to buy Dean little trinkets or gifts for his birthday, or, when Dean grumbled he was too old for a gift, bought him a slice of pie.

Either way, for both of the Winchester boys, birthdays weren't much.

When Sam left to go to college, he was at first surprised and a bit overwhelmed with all the attention and effort put into making his birthday party, both Jessica and Brady going a bit overboard (though in their minds, it was hardly anything, but to Sam, this was big) to ensure he celebrated this special day properly. So for almost four years, he actually got to experience birthdays like every other normal person did, with lots of gifts and cake and balloons.

But, just like before, after the fire and Jess' death, Sam once more became a stranger to birthday celebrations. Hunting became the main focus for the boys, and they let days slip past them: birthdays, holidays, and even just regular days. And both were fine with not celebrating birthdays, that a simple, "Happy birthday man," was more than enough and if the other happened to wake up with a new weapon or book by their bed, then it was just a coincidence.

And this carried on for years.

It wasn't until later on in life, when everything had quieted down in the world (or at least was as quiet and uneventful as it could be for the two hunters), and they got the Bunker, did they start celebrating birthdays again. It had happened out of the blue one day, when Cas had brought up while they were all researching that it was Sam's birthday, to which Dean wished him a happy birthday and nothing more. That, of course, hadn't sat right with Cas as he was confused to why they were hardly reacting much to such an important day.

"I've seen many humans through glorious parties on these days, Dean, with cakes and balloons and all sorts of decorations," Cas had told him and Dean gave a shrug in response.

"We don't really do much for birthdays anymore Cas," Dean had explained and the angel frowned.

"Why not? I understand that before it might've been tricky moving around a lot, but now that you have the Bunker, I don't see why not." And Dean had to agree with the angel, he did have a point.

So later that day Dean found himself in the kitchen, baking a chocolate cake for his brother while Cas patiently watched from one of the stools at the island. It was later after that, that he went to go and get his brother a gift from the local bookstore, just a couple novels he was sure Sam hadn't yet read and when he got back, iced the cake and placed a couple candles. He had joked about putting 32 candles as well as one for good luck, but it seemed foolish to put that many candles on the cake. So instead he settled with five.

And in the evening that same day, they had a small party for Sam's birthday, inviting a couple friends over to celebrate the event with and Dean could swear the grin on his baby brother's face was the widest it had been in years. So the eldest hunter decided he was going to do this every year for Sam's birthday, making things like how they once were. And Sam decided to do the same thing as well for Dean when his birthday came around, knowing how his brother had sacrificed so many of his birthdays so Sam could have his.

For the Winchesters, birthdays had never been much of a special occasion or event. It used to be treated like any other day, with many a small congratulations thrown in. But never was it something big. Until they finally made their home in the Bunker. Then birthdays became something more, not just a day where you chuckle at how it's another year having gone without being killed on the job, but it became a time to celebrate how lucky they were to be alive and to have all their friends. What started off as nothing important, became something really important to them and Dean decided that this would definitely be a common thing now.

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 **Let me know what you thought of this (it doesn't quite sit perfectly with me due to how I wrote it - the tense - to be honest) and if you want, come bother me on tumblr at** twisted-pride **.**

 **-Twist**


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